Seahawks' Russell Wilson: Colin Kaepernick Was 'Trying to Do the Right Thing'

Seattle Seahawks Russell Wilson spoke on a Zoom call Wednesday regarding the protests for racial discrimination and police brutality occurring around the country. 

Wilson also spoke about Colin Kaepernick and his protest in 2016, when he took a knee during the national anthem before NFL games to protest those same issues, per Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times:

'We all need to help. We all need to find our own ways of how we're going to love and how we're going to make a difference, and everybody may do it differently. I don't know what everybody's going to do and how they're going to do it, but it's calling for people to understand what's really going on. It's heavy on me because I think the reality is with Colin, in particular, is he was trying to symbolize the right thing. People may have taken that the wrong way. But I think he was trying to do the right thing. The bottom line."

Wilson also said he wasn't interested in talking about football at this moment and was instead focusing on the killings of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor:

"The God that I believe in, the Jesus that I believe in has sacrificed for us all, and I think at the end of the day, for me, I want to love like Jesus did. I want to be able to care like Jesus did. Hopefully... our family and everybody else that I can hopefully have an influence on will continue to grow with me and with us and everybody else. Like I said, I don't want to talk about football. I think about the pain of George. I think about Ahmaud. I think about Breonna. I think about these people who have been murdered. It's a lot of pain on my heart right now."

Floyd was killed last week after since-fired Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on his neck for almost nine minutes while arresting him, as three other officers—Tou Thao, Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng—looked on. Chauvin was initially charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter, though the murder charged was elevated to second degree on Wednesday.

Thao, Lane and and Kueng were fired at the same time as Chauvin and Wednesday were each charged with aiding and abetting murder. 

Arbery was shot and killed by Gregory and Travis McMichael while he was out jogging on Feb. 23. A video of the shooting went viral on May 5, and the McMichaels were arrested on May 7 and charged with felony murder and aggravated assault. William Bryan Jr., who filmed the shooting, was also charged with felony murder.

Taylor was shot in her own home just after midnight on March 13. Officers were investigating a drug case and reportedly had a "no knock" warrant to enter her home because police believed one of the men they were investigating had been receiving packages at her home. Officers claimed that they not only knocked but also identified themselves, and that Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, opened fire first before officers returned fire, killing Taylor in the process. 

Walker has contended that he didn't hear the police identify themselves and believed someone was breaking into Taylor's residence and was defending himself and Taylor, and that his weapon was legally registered. He was initially charged with attempted murder of a police officer, though that charge has since been dropped.